Best Free Registry Cleaner
If you're unfamiliar with the Windows registry, it's not advisable that you use a registry cleaner. The risks are just too high, as compared to the possible gains.
The registry is what keeps your computer running; it tells the computer what to do when certain events happen. However, as you use your computer, a lot of unwanted and unnecessary information is written into the registry, and this usually occurs because you've installed and uninstalled programs or updated versions of existing programs. This gradual accumulation of unneeded or incorrect information will, over time, slow the speed of your computer.
A registry cleaner tries to get rid of this unwanted data and restore your PC to full speed. The problem is that the cleaning process is less than perect. In particular, there is always a small risk that the registry cleaner may incorrectly remove data that is actually needed. In the worst case scenario, your PC may become unusable as a result.
That's why it's absolutely essential that you backup your registry before using a registry cleaner. For most users the easiest way to do this is to create a system checkpoint. An even better way is to use a drive-imaging program to create a snapshot of Windows, which you can use for system recovery if needed. As an added layer of protection, that may actually be more effective than System Restore, consider using the excellent ERUNT utility that Gizmo mentioned as the Tip of the Month in issue #136 of the newsletter.
This ever-present risk of problems is why the "best" registry cleaner is the one that causes the fewest problems, rather than the one that finds the greatest number of registry errors.
EasyCleaner is our top recommendation. Historically, it has proven that it doesn't create problems, and it periodically updates its list of "registry values" that must not be cleaned under any circumstance. It also detects and deletes duplicate files and cleans up all your temporary files to provide more usable disk space, but this should be viewed as a bonus rather the primary function of the product.
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner is another option, but it lacks many of EasyCleaner's features. Despite this fact, it has a reasonably good track record.
Another option is a program called RegSeeker, but we've determined that it has caused numerous problems, so we're reluctant to recommend it.
Product Details
EasyCleaner
Website: http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
Download Link: http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
Author: Toni Helenius
Current Version: 2.0.6.306
Download File Size: 2.81 MB
License: Freeware
Operating Systems: Windows 95-Vista
Additional Software Required: Windows 95 Only - Winsock 2 Update from microsoft.com
Other Languages: Many, see website for details
Other Information: None
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
Website: http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm
Download Link: 5 Download Sites accessible from Website.
Author: Eusing Software
Current Version: 1.6
Download File Size: 890.8 KB
License: Freeware
Operating Systems: Windows 95-Vista
Additional Software Required: None
Other Languages: Many, see website for details
Other Information: None
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Current Version of Easycleaner is : 2.0.6.306 (not 2.0.8.306)
Hi
Thanks. I fixed it.
Current Version of Easycleaner is 2.0.6<\b>.306 (Not 2.0.8.306)
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Glary Utilities. I use that on setups that are 'new' to me and I want to be conservative, and RegSeeker on setups that I know that it will not harm. Actually, I have found no problems with the latest version of RegSeeker, although earlier versions did cause some problems with Flash, etc. I have only used this applications XP - so I have no Vista experience with them.
Hi
It's mentioned in Best Free PC Tune-Up Utility, since it isn't just a registry cleaner.
Comodo has recently released a registry cleaner. It would be greatly appreciated if it could be tested I've been using for about 2 weeks and it seems to work great!
http://forums.comodo.com/comodo_registry_cleaner/comodo_registry_cleaner...
Thanks, keep up the excellent work!
RegVac from SuperWinSoftware is a great registry cleaner. The current version 5.01 can run on Windows 98 to Vista. It offers a Novice Mode (by default) for safest use and an Advanced Mode for advanced users. It's a 30 day full version trial, and is $29.95(USA) to buy online. (Oddly, RegVac remains fully functional even after 30 days; it just reminds you to purchase while running.) It is certainly worth a try and buy.
After reviewing the posts here, I have to follow-up to one mention of a product that I really like--Lexun RegScrubXP. For a fair number of reviews of this product, see http://www.sofotex.com/reviews/r7528.html.
I consider myself somewhat of a registry cleaner junkie and have used or tried almost everyone of them mentioned here. Currently, I stick with EasyCleaner, RegScrubXP, and jv16 Powertools. (I do use CCleaner, but I don't use their registry cleaner.) I do have Registry Mechanic and Norton Utilites also installed, but rarely use them. I run each of the three mentioned above about once per month. Of course, I make a System Restore point before using them.
My only qualms with this wonderful program is that it doesn't appear that it's been updated in quite some time and I don't believe it's Vista compatible.
I read the very good reviews about RegScrubXP, and I wanted to try it myself but I am a bit at a loss because I wanted to download it and I found two different versions. RegScrubXP v.3.2 can be downloaded in several websites and also version 5.1 of RegScrubXP at download.com which has got a different installer icon. Is v.3.2 supposed to be the last one or is there a more recent version like 5.1? Please let me know if anyone has got any new information about RegScrubXP, I would appreciate it.
Cheers
Adanacs
I downloaded EasyCleaner and immediately had problems. I uninstalled the program, but now when I open I.E. it opens to my home page plus opens four tabs the last one being ToniArts (http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/). Whenever I open one of the tabs or leave it for a minute, it goes back to ToniArts. Needless to say I am not happy about this. I have emailed Toni regarding the problem, and how to fix it, but have not heard back yet.
Notice to all. Some dude from Argente has been spamming this site with fake posts extolling the virtues of his products. Site visitors should ignore them, site editors should delete them - Gizmo
Dear Gizmo,
Please, can you or somebody from this site,
test the new FREE Registry Cleaners (Argente, Wise etc.) and offer us some guidance?
There was a recent posting with a "Registry Cleaners" Test done by someone.
You erased it. Does this mean that this Test was not reliable?
Best regards,
P.C.
IMHO the reported "tests" were not reliable. First they didn't line up with any other test I've seen. Second they only looked at so called registry "errors" and made no attempt to assess whether these were real or not. Thirdly the tests were conducted by a someone who was clearly spamming the site. In life we all have to make judgments and my judgment was that these tests were unreliable. - Gizmo
2 more:
Clean My Registry - http://www.smartpctools.com/clean_registry/index1.html
MV RegClean Portable - http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Windows-Portable-Applications-Port...
And this is useful to fix registry errors:
Dial-a-fix - http://wiki.lunarsoft.net/wiki/Dial-a-fix#Download_Dial-a-fix
If you really want solid and safe cleaning, these old and trusted completely free (search for the last free versions) cleaners make the day. You can sleep well and run them as often as needed. I would not try skating on ice with cleaners that are on the edge. Here is my, albeit conservative, list:
Ccleaner -- All time favourite. No frills workhorse
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner-- Another trusted companion. Like Ccleaner, but penetrates a bit deeper
RegCleaner -- More power, like changing the engine from 2 Litre to 3.x
jv16 -- The deep microscope of the registry
I find registry cleaners quite mysterious. Sometimes I click on CCleaner and it cleans everything that it looks for, but then I click on it again and it finds more stuff!? And every registry cleaner I have finds stuff!
I have CCleaner, Advanced WindowsCare 3-Beta, and I recently tried Argente's registry cleaner.
I will not try EasyCleaner because I'm not sure whether it is Vista compatible.
To replace the Obsolete
Eusing Free Registry Cleaner,
you can use the
" Free Window Registry Repair 1.5 "
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4.html?tg=dl-20&qt=Free%20Window%20Regis...
- My top recommendation: the products of Macecraft: jv16 Power Tools, RegSupreme/Pro.
- Registry Mechanic is overvalued!
- Wise Wise Registry Cleaner 3 Pro is CRAPWARE!
Wise registry cleaner is by far the best free reg cleaner, if you use the default selections you will find that the large number of entries it finds are legitimate junk (not so good with vista ultimate x64 as it seems to loop in syswow64 keys so you have to stop the scan). JV16 is excellent at finding previously valid but now obsolete keys.
The reg cleaner provided by Win Utilities is probably the best (not free).
Tune up utilities is safe(98%), Registry Mechanic is fairly safe(98%)
Deep scans on most cleaner will almost definitely need scrutiny before removal.
easy cleaner (toni arts) is a good lightweight cleaner
ccleaner has to be checked as i have found it always find valid entries for removal.
if you are using vista be careful when using vista manager (it always seems to remove the clear recent items option and have even removed vista activation)
I use combination of wise and win utilities (but i still check the results)
as i don't believe there is a 100% safe cleaner out there.
PCACEIT
Is EasyCleaner really Vista compatible? It does not say so at the download site.
After cleaning with Argente and rebooting, Registry Mechanic showed 11 missing or invalid values, 6 of which where high priority.
Tweaknow showed only 1 error; from my experience it's even more shy than Ccleaner, at that time showing 4 errors (3 problems with extensions, 1 active X and 1 uninstaller issue). These programs maybe secure but certainly not thorough.
Wise showed 139 errors, 72 secure: this is overkill, I'm unable to trust a program like this for automated cleaning.
Eusing showed 13 errors, 9 invalid folders, 3 unused extension, 1 installer reference issue.
A second scan with Argente, this time in deep scan mode, showed 33 missing files or folders, 22 of which belong to keys located in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet, HKLM\System\Control001, HKLM\System\Control002: there was not a single reference to errors in those keys in Registry Mechanic. A control set contains system configuration information such as device drivers and services, fixing a wrong value will probably turn your system unbootable. Take care !
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100010
In conclusion, I'm only keeping Eusing.
After reading you objections, I downloaded and installed the latest versions of Jv16 and Regseeker. I was using Virtualbox running XP Pro 32bit, so the environment conditions were not changed.
Jv16 told me what I suspected, my Registry health was 100%. No need for aditional cleaning.
Regseeker for me has the same problem of Wise and Argente in Deep Scan mode: it displays a lot of unknown/ unsafe to remove keys to be fixed; in registry cleaning more is not better, you might end up deleting important entries from the registry. Regseeker told me I had to fix an aditional number of 92 errors, the majority of which where painted in red. IMO, this is the "Bulk and Deep" method which I don't trust for purposes of automation; an alternative is the "Smart and Safe" method of Eusing, Jv16, to some extent Tweaknow and Ccleaner, and maybe Argente in Normal Scan mode. Easycleaner and the free Jv16 RegCleaner also belong to the second group, but they stop being developed in 2005 and 2002 so I don't recommend them anymore.
Keeping Only Eusing?
That's Ancient History...Unless you are an Old-Crap-ware Collector...
Come on...Find a better Free Registry Cleaner!
Try RegSeeker: http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm
I use it Without the singlest problem!
Registry Mechanic sucks! It is just pure Brainwashing!
Don't believe the highly-paid Advertisements of Registry Mechanic!
There are lots of registry cleaner around, the choice is a personal flavor, and is a matter of clean and risk.
I have used
ccleaner, Lexun ScrubXP, magic set, 51regdr, easycleaner, regseeker, erunt, tweak now and magicset for some time and tried regcln, reg cleaner, wise, Eusing before.
None of them bring my xp down.
Lexun, 51 regdr, regseeker are powerful tools (at least as the number shows), however, be careful, after clean you might find some context menu item missing, or quick launch bar disabled, you need to do some tune again.
tweak now is on the other end -- it is too mild. Try one thing, install a small piece of program like ccleaner, delete the folder from program files, and run tweak now, how often could it fix the short cut and registry entries? 3 years ago, it didn't do well, therefore forget it.
Easycleaner, my first clean tool pack, is also powerful (at least last release) in the registry scanning, however, I can't find copy paste in the context menu on my windows 2000 pro system, and it happened several times. On the other hand, the last release has some problem with duplicate finder ---- I doubt the efficiency and correctness of the searching algorithm, anyway, it seldom found duplicate files as other dedicated tools did, e.x., doublekiller. The install/uninstall load as slow as window control panel add/remove. Only the disk usage tool is good, but I can find other tools to do that. I obsoleted it 3 years ago.
Now back to topic, which is my favorite? Ccleaner plus Erunt. I nearly never have problem with Ccleaner, except the manually added shortcut and forgot to uncheck the option to skip scan startup menu items. Of course, the ccleaner is definitely not as clean as other, but it is clean enough for me, and it is also integrates other handy tools ---- the add/remove part really load much faster than xp's add/remove.
Erunt is combination of scan and registry defrag (because at the same time it download Ntregopt). The GUI is as simple as nothing, but it works.
Magicset is a collection of many powerful tools. Unfortunately, it has a Chinese GUI.
So here is another problem we need to consider. To have a separate registry tool or have an integrated cleaning tool? I prefer a tool set, it is easier to maintain, and easy to update :). The effort to maintain several mini applications is relatively too big.
How many cleaners are under test?
Some more.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?id=15&sort=7
Lexun RegScrubXP
RegCln
EasyCleaner
RegCleaner
WT RegCleanerXP
Erunt
magic set
........
It is always a matter between clean and lost of some configure. But none of above bring my XP system down.
Some cleaners (say EasyCleaner's reg clean, and maybe RegScrubXP) is too aggressive and after clean, you might need to do some work to bring back some context menu item or rearrange the toolbar. CCleaner is too soft for me, but very safe. It is the first choice because it integrate many other functionality. Erunt is my another choice. MagicSet is a good set of wonderful tools, but unfortunately it is in Chinese.
How do you clean the registry with Erunt ?
That is a backup and restore tool. The other utilities is more useful.
Is it possible that you could add a description of how to use regedit to make a registry backup on any Windows machine? And of course how to restore.
Due to one of my O/Ses being the 64bit version of Vista, I'm not exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to registry cleaners !
CCleaner is compatible, but is a very mild cleaner ( too much so for my needs !! ) .
Eusing, which I have found to be very good on one of my 32bit systems was a disaster with Vista 64 !
It was used immediately after the windows install and returned over 2000 errors, and on removal of the errors, Windows had to be reinstalled !!
At this moment in time I am using the Wise Registry Cleaner, and although in my opinion it isn't perfect, it hasn't caused any damage, and there is
a noticable improvement in performance !
All powerful registry cleaners should be used with caution because they can cause severe damage if certain entries are deleted.
On more than one occasion I have seen PCs that have had the Disk Cleanup tool corrupted by Reg cleaners, to the extent that D/C reports that it can
remove an ammount of junk files which is greater than the capacity of the harddrive itself !!!
Eusing and Registry Mechanic are two culprits that spring to mind.
It isn't my intention to rubbish these products, because on the whole I rate them both quite high, I just want to warn people that sometimes things do hit the fan !
I set about recreating this problem on a test bed, and when I had got to the bottom of it, I posted my findings on a U.K tech site.
For anyone who may be interested......................................
http://forums.computeractive.co.uk/thread.jspa?messageID=991888󲊐
I use TweakNow Registry Cleaner Pro on 64-bit Vista, but alas it's not free.
Hi
Isn't there a free version of that?
http://www.tweaknow.com/RegCleaner.html
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